Antiwar vets arrested in parade to honor troops

Patriotism and antiwar passion collided Sunday when 18 former soldiers-turned-activists were arrested during a Veterans Day parade at City Hall in front of the uniformed, whom they blamed for unnecessary bloodshed in Iraq.

Members of Boston Veterans for Peace, a group of former soldiers who oppose U.S. involvement in the war, were reprimanded by police when they refused to move away from the main podium after continued warnings.

The city permitted the group to march in the parade Sunday but banned carrying antiwar signs.

"The American Legion sponsors this parade and doesn't like veterans who are against war," said Veterans for Peace member and Vietnam veteran Jim Packer. "The Legion thinks that to support the soldiers, you have to be for the war, but I think that the best way to support soldiers is to bring them home."

Packer, who stood near the rear of the crowd, said he developed a new perspective on war after he graduated from Boston University in 1966 and enlisted in the Marines.

"I came back from Vietnam with a commitment not to allow this country to start another war based on lies," he said.

According to its website, Veterans for Peace, which has four chapters in Massachusetts, aims to peacefully stop hostile intervention in foreign affairs and eradicate war as a policy tool.

Veterans for Peace member Paul Atwood, also a BU graduate, said Veterans Day pageantry glorifies militarism.

"A day like this should be a day of sovereign reflection," Atwood said.

Other protesters turned American flags upside down.

"The upside-down flag is a symbol of soldiers in distress," said Montserrat College of Art freshman Casey Furtado. "Our country is in distress as a result of the war."

According to the Boston Police Department website, those arrested are being charged with disturbing a lawful assembly.

Other spectators said they recognize anti-war activists' right to free speech, but their message had no place at a Veterans Day event.

"I think everyone here should support the war and the soldiers," said Lizbeth Sanchez, a junior Reserve Officer Training Corps member.

"They're entitled to voice their opinions, but making a demonstration due to their political opinions is inappropriate at this occasion," said Suffolk County American Auxiliary Legion officer Albert Ashe. "They can't protest anywhere they feel like it."